Bangkok Eye To Be Taller Than London Eye

[rreddin]

Bangkok Eye To Be Taller Than London Eye

Wowee, the London Eye is 10 years old now. It's old hat guys. How about coming up with an original idea before you harp on about bigger than, taller than, faster than...

There may be a practical reason determining the diameter of this ferris wheel. The London Eye was built flat - that is it was assembled across the River Thames and then lifted into position. The river in BKK is wider than that part of Old Father Thames. If they are planning to use the same construction technique for the BKK wheel, it will have to span the river - hence the size.

[Steele404]

30 billion baht?!??!?! I seriously doubt this is the correct figure... the whole Airport Link costs 30 billion baht...... (considering at least a dozen trains, a dozen stations equipped with some of the latest techs, and a lengthy 30 km elevated track system)

please tell me this isnt a correct figure, complete and utter waste of spendings

[Neonben]

This is an original idea, it's in Bangkok and called the "Bangkok eye".

I'm looking forward to the t-shirts, London eye photoshopped to BKK cityscape.

How about using the 30 billion to improve Bangkok infrastructure before spending money like this on a stupid idea like this....

Totally agree - complete lack of infrastructure - bloody floods eveytime it rains, so build a ferris wheel, at least you'll be dry if you're on top of it. But at least this ferris wheel builds on the great Thai tradition of - to lazy to think of our own idea, so we'll copy someone elses.

[montanan]

Ferris Wheels are old tech and very fun....I suggest all nations that can bolt together steel should post one in a strategic location....if for no other reason than to get the passing tourist to drop a bill or ten. E-Z proven tech ca. 100 years ago. No more of an eye blight than the last 40 story building that was built, and much more fun. I'm a big proponent of such devices to promote local tourism...particularly the look out platforms created to be safe overlooks from local mountains. It is a logical and "green" local money maker.

[Garry]

Knowing Thailand and how jobs get done and awarded, i only hope the "private company" will do the right job to ensure people do not get hurt or The eye does not fall or sink or whatever else they can come up with.

I will never set foot in the thing

[way2muchcoffee]

Ferris Wheels are old tech and very fun....I suggest all nations that can bolt together steel should post one in a strategic location....if for no other reason than to get the passing tourist to drop a bill or ten. E-Z proven tech ca. 100 years ago. No more of an eye blight than the last 40 story building that was built, and much more fun. I'm a big proponent of such devices to promote local tourism...particularly the look out platforms created to be safe overlooks from local mountains. It is a logical and "green" local money maker.

I tend to agree. The price is probably too high (undoubtedly to allow for corruption) but in general there is nothing wrong with adding another tourist attraction. All the arguments for how the money should be spent for this or that are irrelevant. Budgets are already allocated for rural development via the interior and other ministries. The budget that this falls under has presumably been allocated to the tourism and sports ministry. It's called development. This particular project will most certainly recoup all investment costs over a very short period of time.

Edited October 14, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[bkk_mike]

There's an awful lot of graft priced into it if the cost is 30 billion baht.

- after all, they're not reinventing the wheel...

[RedNIvar]

30 billion baht?!??!?! I seriously doubt this is the correct figure... the whole Airport Link costs 30 billion baht...... (considering at least a dozen trains, a dozen stations equipped with some of the latest techs, and a lengthy 30 km elevated track system)

please tell me this isnt a correct figure, complete and utter waste of spendings

Ssshhhhh......

There is a 5 million bhat offer if you stop questioning the budget. If you accept, the Eye-o-Bangkok will be constructed at a lower cost of 29.995 Billion only.

[aangsath]

How about using the 30 billion to improve Bangkok infrastructure before spending money like this on a stupid idea like this....

I was a bit shock too when I saw how much they planned to spend. Is that a real cost of construction? I doubt that!

[ronrat]

Don't get the dills who built the one in Melbourne. been out of action for 2 years and still under warranty. N Who knows why we needed one. Wouldn't the Thai Government be better building something like say a big white elephant.

[w11guy]

How about using the 30 billion to improve Bangkok infrastructure before spending money like this on a stupid idea like this....

Totally agree - complete lack of infrastructure - bloody floods eveytime it rains, so build a ferris wheel, at least you'll be dry if you're on top of it. But at least this ferris wheel builds on the great Thai tradition of - to lazy to think of our own idea, so we'll copy someone elses.

What a completely stupid remark. If something works and is incredibly popular then you should use it. Why think of a new idea when you already have one that works. So what new ideas do you think up every day? I bet you just copy what everyone else does. How did you end up in Thailand? Did you just follow the crowd or did you think of it independently? I thought not. Many countries have copied the London Eye because it's so popular and makes a huge profit. Do you drive a car, or did you come up with your own transport idea? Everyone copies what's good. Why would you try to reinvent the wheel (pun intended) all the time?

This will make money. You can't spend all money on infrastructure. Would you go on holiday to somewhere that had great infrastructure but no attractions?I doubt it.

If you're so concerned about infrastructure, why don't you donate your beer money to an infrastructure fund. After all, infrastructure is far better than building lots of bars for tourists. You lot are mental.

Edited October 14, 2010 by w11guy

[Tonyrichard]

How about using the 30 billion to improve Bangkok infrastructure before spending money like this on a stupid idea like this....

Totally agree - complete lack of infrastructure - bloody floods eveytime it rains, so build a ferris wheel, at least you'll be dry if you're on top of it. But at least this ferris wheel builds on the great Thai tradition of - to lazy to think of our own idea, so we'll copy someone elses.

I wholly agree with you, Jonclark. It truly is pathetic how Thailand - which is singularly uncreative as a nation - just rips off other people's ideas. At least Britain (which for all its faults has been, for centuries, an extraordinarily inventive, intellectual and creative culture) came up with its own original London Eye plan. It seems to me that the only outstanding architectural originality the Thais have displayed is their very pretty temples. The Thais are excellent at prettification - but when it comes to originality/ depth of thought or innovative production - forget it! And I agree with the comments of other contributors here: the roads in Bangkok are a joke (they literally turn into rivers when there's a downpour), and the lack of concern for pedestrians is evidenced by all the broken paving stones along many BKK pavements - plus the perpetual menace of really brainless motor-cycle riders who drive along the pavements (no 'greng jai' here!). It's all very exasperating. I agree with the other posters on this thread: more money should be spent on improving BKK's infrastructure, and not on an utterly unnecessary and useless Bangkok Eye.

Edited October 14, 2010 by Tonyrichard

[Igor]

Some quick calculations say that at 30BB (billion baht) and the current price of a ticket on the London Eye (850B) they will need to accommodate 35 MILLION passengers to recover the construction costs. Not to mention operating costs, maintenance, infrastructure to support it, etc.Perhaps the 30BB includes the cost of new roads, parking lots, affiliated attractions (museums, parks, iMax theaters). In any case, it seems a enormous expenditure to attract tourists. Not a lot of locals earning 10KB a month gonna be taking their families for a ride.

To attract more tourism, would seem like they need to figure out a solution to the boiling political problems.

Someone suggested the name Thai Eye. Question, if it collapsed, would all the passengers be referred to as Thai Deyed? Just curious.

[PaulHamon]

Of course the Bangkok Eye will be delivered in 2025 and there will be no mass transport to it's location.

[kuffki]

How about using the 30 billion to improve Bangkok infrastructure before spending money like this on a stupid idea like this....

Totally agree - complete lack of infrastructure - bloody floods eveytime it rains, so build a ferris wheel, at least you'll be dry if you're on top of it. But at least this ferris wheel builds on the great Thai tradition of - to lazy to think of our own idea, so we'll copy someone elses.

What a completely stupid remark. If something works and is incredibly popular then you shouls use it. Why think of a new idea when you already have one that works. So what new ideas do you think up every day? I bet you just copy what everyone else does. How did you end up in Thailand? Did you just follow the crowd or did you think of it independently? I thought not. Many countries have copied the London Eye becuase it's so popular. Do you drive a car, or did you come up with your own transport idea? Everyone copies what's good. Why would you try to reinvent the wheel (pun intended) all the time?

This will make money. You can't spend all money on infrastructure. Would you go on holiday to somewhere that had great infrastructure but no attractions?

What is popular? where is it popular?

Do you think if Iraq made Eiffel Tower tourists will come in millions?

Why would Brit travel to BKK to take a ride on a wheel which he/she has back home

It seems your thinking is so twisted that even a 30billion baht wheel will not fix.

[bangon04]

Is it just a coincidence that the commodity price for bamboo poles just shot up...?

[toddkritti]

You're thinking Singapore where their wheel would compliment and add qualitative value to their other projects. But Thailand... the wheel is just going to be a stand-alone project that requires more maintenance than the revenue it will ever generate and it's not going to be a multiplier either because it won't create much consumption as a stand-alone project. Bangkok is not going to be a major tourist city for a long while until the political disputes become non-violent so they might as well put more focus on other tourism spots like Phuket or Samui where there's no daily M72 shootouts, build casinos, or reallocate and focus more on economic recovery for now because the allocation was like a willy wanke_r's joke.

Ferris Wheels are old tech and very fun....I suggest all nations that can bolt together steel should post one in a strategic location....if for no other reason than to get the passing tourist to drop a bill or ten. E-Z proven tech ca. 100 years ago. No more of an eye blight than the last 40 story building that was built, and much more fun. I'm a big proponent of such devices to promote local tourism...particularly the look out platforms created to be safe overlooks from local mountains. It is a logical and "green" local money maker.

I tend to agree. The price is probably too high (undoubtedly to allow for corruption) but in general there is nothing wrong with adding another tourist attraction. All the arguments for how the money should be spent for this or that are irrelevant. Budgets are already allocated for rural development via the interior and other ministries. The budget that this falls under has presumably been allocated to the tourism and sports ministry. It's called development. This particular project will most certainly recoup all investment costs over a very short period of time.

[w11guy]

Who would pay to go on a stupid ferris wheel when you have at least two rooftop bars nearby, reaching almost 250m? I would rather spend my money on a ice cold beer accompanied by good friends and some live jazz music at Scirocco!

Around 10,000 people a day ride on the London Eye. The two rooftop bars you mention couldn't accomodate that amount of people. Many people don't want to go to a bar and many tourists are too young to go to a bar. You can't expect people with young children to go to a rooftop bar for the view. And travelling on a giant wheel is much more exciting for children than looking at the view from a bar. Perhaps you don't have children or have forgotten what it is like to be young.

The wheel isn't designed for jaded ex-pats. There are plenty of bars around for them.

And why do you think people should only have one choice? A rooftop bar view suits you, so you think everyone else should be forced to use the bar instead of being given the choice of a wheel.

No-one is forcing you to use the wheel. It's not compulsory. You are free to spend your money on beer. Not everyone wants to.

[Bagwan]

Probably take 6 years to complete. Being by the river, it will be closed during the rainy season as the floods will put it underwater!

Much better off using this money to improve the education system and/or basic infrastructure in Thailand.

Hang about. According to some in six years this bauble has every chance of being IN the river.  This project makes as much sense as Thaksin adding a few metres to the height of the control tower at Swampy.

Note to TAT. Has anybody thought of marketing Bangkok as the new Venice? 

[Asianrider]

30 billion baht is a heck of a lot of money - so many more CONSTRUCTIVE things that money could be put to !

[quiksilva]

If the concept is the similar to say Beijing's Great Wheel the main revenue earner is actually the support retail components i.e F&B, souvenirs, and other surrounding tourist type attractions and various other family friendly amusements on the same site. So much more than what's on offer in London. In essence it would be a small theme park.

It could be very successful.

Think about it, apart from seediness, shopping and culture (temples, Palaces etc) Bangkok does not really have much in the way of major tourist attractions. You could do Bangkok in 3-4 days no problem.

A project like this could feasibly add another day's stopover in the capital to the tourist's itinerary before they move on to the beach etc. It would be a must see, and would bring more revenue to the city and the hospitality industry in Bangkok.

As to whether it could make money at the stated cost, well lets just say, I have my doubts...

Edited October 14, 2010 by quiksilva

[fiercesnake]

How about using the 30 billion to improve Bangkok infrastructure before spending money like this on a stupid idea like this....

Totally agree - complete lack of infrastructure - bloody floods eveytime it rains, so build a ferris wheel, at least you'll be dry if you're on top of it. But at least this ferris wheel builds on the great Thai tradition of - to lazy to think of our own idea, so we'll copy someone elses.

Big time TRUE! No wonder they have a bunch of upset Red Shirts with one of their major complaints being that a lot of waste is perpetuated by the Thai elite here and taxes are squandered on Bangkok (for example a copy ferris wheel that is even bigger than the original overseas item) while the rural poor suffer even more with little funds on the basics outside of the capitol. But even in Bangkok proper the infrastructure is appalling as suggested by many others here. Fix the roads, education and health systems first if you want to be truly developed as a nation FIRST. Typical Thai, make it LOOK GOOD on the surface!

[CaptainBluebeard]

It does seem alot of money ... 30 billion baht is £631,000,000 ... perhaps the England football fixture against Thailand next June has been arranged so that the FA bigwigs can travel over and advise the Thai government on how to waste alot of money on building projects. We're good at that in England as well don't forget ...

[trogers]

Thirty percent of the construction budget will be underground....

How to anchor such a structure on 16m of soft clay so that a 100 km/h wind will not topple it over...

[whiteboy]

Would love to see that business plan and the return of investment on such a nonsense story!

For that budget you can built nearly 10 x 5 star hotels at 3 Billion Baht a pop. Or 1/4 of Suvarnabhumi Airport.

I count about 40 capsules...if you would hang the equivalent of a 50 million Baht Rolls Royce x 40 units you would have spent 2 Billion.

Land from the operator, so the structure and staffing + infrastructure comes to 28 Billion????

Who comes up with these figures...??? Who reports that kind of thing, without questioning these figures?

Mind-boggling...and all that to have the biggest one in the world, for the few years that would last...

[dynabob]

30 billion and made of bamboo.

Edited October 14, 2010 by dynabob

[sgiandubh]

Bangkok (and other places) is rife with prostitution, child pornography, dangerous roads and pavements, corruption on an pandemic scale, crazy and unqualified drivers, a useless and inefficient police force, legions of hopelessly poor people throughout the country, stupid and mindless officials, drug abuse, and so on - Im sure that you get the message here.

So, what do the so called ''thinkers'' of this nation want to do - "lets copy an idea thats 10 years old - lets build a big wheel" maybe that will propel our sad little nation into the league of first countrys.

Honestly, unless this country starts to even try to think about the bigger problems facing it, it will simply remain as a laughing stock through the developed world. When that happens, then maybe people outside will start to regard Thailand as having an corporate IQ above 48.

[Thunderbird4ever]

There is now way that this big bicylce wheel will cost 30 Billion baht! Anyone with a brain would understand that.

Second, the Thai people would never allow this to happen. Even if it was 3 billion baht it would be an outrages sum of tax payers money to use on this.

Suwarnaphumi airport cost 155 billion baht to build.

The whole BTS (skytrain) project cost 32 billion baht but because of the depriciation of the Thai baht back then ended up costing 54 billion baht.

The whole new elevated airport rail link project cost 25.9 billion baht.

So the 29 km elevated airport link includnig trains are cheaper than this 176 meter metal wheel welded together.

Seriously, come on guys.

[jamora]

Who would pay to go on a stupid ferris wheel when you have at least two rooftop bars nearby, reaching almost 250m? I would rather spend my money on a ice cold beer accompanied by good friends and some live jazz music at Scirocco!

Around 10,000 people a day ride on the London Eye. The two rooftop bars you mention couldn't accomodate that amount of people. Many people don't want to go to a bar and many tourists are too young to go to a bar. You can't expect people with young children to go to a rooftop bar for the view. And travelling on a giant wheel is much more exciting for children than looking at the view from a bar. Perhaps you don't have children or have forgotten what it is like to be young.

The wheel isn't designed for jaded ex-pats. There are plenty of bars around for them.

And why do you think people should only have one choice? A rooftop bar view suits you, so you think everyone else should be forced to use the bar instead of being given the choice of a wheel.

No-one is forcing you to use the wheel. It's not compulsory. You are free to spend your money on beer. Not everyone wants to.

I do think people should have a choice, but it requires enough demand for the market to be sustainable, and I personally don't believe in the concept of a ferris wheel in Bangkok. It would not be realistic to expect nearly as many visitors as the London Eye. Bangkok has far less tourists than London, and seeing London from above would be more interesting since the main sights in London are more close to each other, and with higher visibility the experience in London would be better. Then imagine the ticket price in Bangkok, let's say at least 600 THB, for a family of four that would be 2,400 THB. How many people do you think would travel to a low budget destination and spend that kind of money for 20 min. of entertainment?

Yes, I remembering being a child, and I would rather go the Siam Ocean World for a full day and watch sharks!

But as said before, for now, MY preference would still be a good time with my wife at Scirocco.

[TAWP]

Worst. Idea. Ever.

I am not surprised.

That is 30 billion of my and your money being wasted/stolen. Again.

Please supply a list of everyone involved.